The New Covenant, Jeremiah 31:31—37
This mountain-top Old Testament passage has been hailed as one of the most significant passages of Scripture in the entire Bible. It is also seen as a major influence on New Testament doctrine and theology. Some scholars see these verses as the climax of Jeremiah’s ministry and his greatest contribution to biblical truth. Despite this, most Christians are shocked to discover that Jesus was not the first person to speak of a “new covenant.” The Church is familiar with the New Testament reference to the “new covenant” and assumes it is all about the Church—
In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25)
In fact, like so much of the Bible, the “new covenant” is all about Israel, as we shall see.
1. Context of the new covenant, verses 31, 32
The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.
When we consider the time in which he lived, we can understand where Jeremiah’s concept of a “new covenant” came from. During the reforms of King Josiah, the prophet had seen the people of Judah coming back to the Lord in an outward display of worship and devotion, yet with no corresponding inner change, reminding us of this New Testament verses—
2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Timothy 3:2—5)
Certainly the Judeans flocked to and practiced the national religion of the day, but that religion did nothing to change the hearts of individuals. This is were all religion breaks down eventually; it never calls for the necessity of the individual’s responsibility in repentance and living a changed life.
Jeremiah wrote these verses while he was shut up in the court of the guard. As Jeremiah routinely used the phrase “the time is coming,” the “time” he refered to is the far future; the time of the Messiah and the Day of the Lord. This age will be the consummation of Israel’s history. This promise of a “new covenant” represents a radical change in the way God will deal with His people. As Jeremiah watched the apparent “successes” of Josiah’s reforms, he must have realized that an outward show of righteousness was meaningless if a person’s heart was far from God. This is why he wrote 4:3—4,
3 This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it.
As the years wore on, Jeremiah became more and more convinced that the hope of Judah rested in the individual and his personal commitment to his faith and not on a national religion. His own experience bore out that truth; his faith was personal; God met Jeremiah face to face, as it were, and had personal fellowship with him. This special relationship was immediate, real, and internal. What happened to Jeremiah would have to become the norm for every individual in Judah.
2. Content of the new covenant, verses 33, 34
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
These verses, when studied phrase-by-phrase reveal much more than a casual reading does. First of all, we are told that the covenant will be national; it will be with the “house of Israel,” not with any particular individual, though every individual in the nation will be involved. Second, the time factor is spelled out: “after that time.” In other words, after the return from exile, the new covenant will come into effect. Third, God tells the people how they will be able to obey a new covenant when they had demonstrated throughout their history their complete inability to obey the old covenant. His solution: He will write His law within them, on their hearts. The old covenant was written on stone tablets, but the new one will be different, for it will be change the heart and mind of the individual; it will be an internal, not an external covenant.
The new covenant will also inaugurate a new relationship. Under the old covenant, God’s related to His people on a very formal, national level; under the new covenant, God’s relationship with His people will be personal and spiritual. The result of this new relationship will be perfect knowledge of God. What a wonderful day it will when nobody teaches wild and crazy notions of God! Every person will the truth about the God that saved them and the God they worship.
3. Permanence of the new covenant, verses 36, 37
36 “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the LORD, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.” 37 This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the LORD.
Finally, the new covenant will be the last covenant God will ever have to make with His people because it will be permanent. In fact, because the covenant will be permanent, the nation of Israel must of necessity be permanent as well. Surely this is grandest promise of all for God’s people. Their nation, founded in antiquity, will endure for all eternity. As unchangeable as the laws of nature will be God’s new covenant with His endless nation.
This is a marvelous prophecy for it shows us something of the nature of God’s mercy. The nation of Israel has been a rebellious nation throughout its history, and yet God made this eternal promise to them; a promise that does not depend on anything they do or do not do. God’s Word is faithful and true and it stands regardless of anything else; God forever remembers His promises, rather than man’s demerits.
4. The new covenant and Christians
In his prophecy, Jeremiah names those involved in this new covenant: Judah and Israel. Christians read this wonder if the new covenant will have anything to do with them. In response, we would say that the “new covenant” could never have been made with the Church because there was never an “old” covenant made with them. The only covenant made between God and His people was the Mosaic Covenant, entered into at Mt. Sinai, between God and the nation of Israel, and that was the Old Covenant. Therefore the new covenant will simply replace the old one, being entered into by the original parties: God and Israel (and Judah).
Does this mean that Christians have no part in this new covenant? Of course not! This new covenant began with the death of Christ and all aspects of the death of Christ are for all people of all time. The plain, clear teaching of the New Testament is that because Israel rejected Christ and the covenant in His first coming, Gentiles have been graciously included in its blessings. This was essentially what Paul wrote to the Romans—
30What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” 33As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (Romans 9:30—33)
As for Israel, even though the new covenant is in effect now, and has been since the crucifixion of Christ, God’s people will yet ratify it at the consummation of their history. Another prophet, Zechariah, wrote about that day in Zechariah 12 and 13, which in part says—
10And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zechariah 12:10)
Apparently at some point in the eschatological future, the nation of Israel will at last realize the truth about Jesus Christ and He will be recognized as their long-awaited Messiah. At that moment, they will join redeemed people from every generation and be brought into the new covenant forever.
The new covenant spoken of by Jeremiah and Jesus is one and the same covenant. It will be made with believers of every generation and every nation even though it was designed for Israel. The author of the letter to the Hebrews explains how this one covenant can be applied to both Jew and Gentile in Hebrews 8: it is because Jesus is and will be the mediator of it. If this seems confusing, this is because it is a “mystery,” as described by Paul—
6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6)
While the Church and Israel are separate and distinct entities, and the Church has no claim on certain national promises made to Israel, we may rejoice in the knowledge that because of God’s gracious provision we are included in His wondrous plan of redemption. Israel, though excluded at the moment, continues to hold a special place in God’s heart and plan. It behooves all believers of every nationality to pray for the salvation of and peace in Israel. They are our brothers and sisters and we have a common Messiah, who shed His blood and gave His life for all who call upon His name, Jew and Gentile alike.
